In honour of Father’s Day, I’m delighted to say that my novel Invisibles is on sale for Kindle for 99p from amazon.co.uk, or for $1.53 from amazon.com.

Read about one son’s quest to find his long-lost father in Rio de Janeiro.

Ed Siegle’s moving and dynamic tale of loss and discovery is a meditation on being seen, and being unseen. Full of surprises, crackling with energy, and with characters bristling with life, Invisibles pulled me along from the first page and didn’t set me down until the last (Kathryn Heyman)

The most surprising fact about this story of identity is that it is a debut novel. From the first chapter, the richness of Brighton-based author Ed Siegle’s plot, as well as his instantly charming characters, pull you in and don’t let go. Brimming with lush descriptions of the colour, tastes and sounds of Brazil, this is a satisfying and engaging story about the reality of one man’s childhood memories. A fantastic read. (The Scotsman)

I’m delighted to announce that I’m going to be spending a long weekend at the inaugural Brympton Festival, near my home town of Somerset this weekend. Set at the beautiful Brympton d’Evercy – once described by Auberon Waugh as the most beautiful house in England – this new festival of literature and the arts promises to be a real treat.

Peerless Brympton

I’m hosting the first of the “Tea with the author” sessions on Friday 20th at 4.30pm, during which I’ll be reading from my novel Invisibles and talking about its creation and themes.

But I’m also really excited to be chairing talks by some really interesting authors, such as Liggy Webb (Thank you – Your Guide To Appreciating Life),Susan Popoola (Consequences: Diverse to Mosaic Britain), Katherine Quarmby (Scapegoat), Martin Polley (The British Olympics) and Brian Clegg (A Simplification and guide to green issues) – as well as two different events with blockbusting historical author Alison Weir.

The festival promises 7 days of talks and workshops, not just on literature but music, food and art – not to mention, cricket, skittles and croquet on the magnificent lawn. If you’re anywhere in the Yeovil area over the next week, or can get there by any means, it would be almost criminal not to check it out.

Last Saturday I spent a wonderful day in Yeovil Waterstone’s, meeting shoppers and talking to readers and trying to sell a few copies of my novel Invisibles. It was a great experience to be at the coal-face, so to speak, selling my book directly to punters for a change, rather than relying on all the usual people that sit between writer and reader.

A day selling Invisibles in Yeovil Waterstones

I must admit I was unsure how my sales patter would be received, but found that people were mostly open to listening to my amateurish spiel, and even those who said it didn’t sound like their kind of thing were kind enough to listen and wish me luck. Thankfully, many others did decide to buy a copy, and each sale gave me a real buzz.

It was fascinating to have so much direct contact with readers of all kinds – none of them having come into Waterstones with the intention of buying my novel. It was even more interesting to meet and talk to people who will now (hopefully) read Invisibles. Lest one should ever be tempted to think one’s novel would appeal only to a particular type of person, here was evidence that it is impossible to predict who might and might not be interested.

I think it is also quite important as a writer to have contact of this kind with readers. There can be a tendency to become absorbed with the journey of writing, which is understandable – but one should never forget that readers await (if you’re lucky). Without them, writing is little more than vanity. I felt this keenly through the questions they asked about the book and from the looks in their eyes as I tried to communicate its appeal.

Six hours hawking my novel made for a highly enjoyable day – one I would happily repeat. It made me think a lot not just about Invisibles, but also my novel in progress. I may have a good feeling for what I want to do with my next creation, but I’d better make sure I’ve got my answers straight. Then hopefully Yeovil Waterstones will have me back to flog a few copies of that one too.

P.S. A big *Thank You!* to Marcus and all at Yeovil Waterstones for organising the event and for making me feel so welcome.

Hooray! On February 23rd I’ll be giving a talk on Invisibles in Cambridge , in conjunction with a screening of the superb film Bus 174. Cambridge University Brazilian Society have very kindly organised the event, a particular pleasure having studied at Cambridge too many years ago and also because Bus 174 holds a cherished place in the history of Invisibles. Indeed, the title of the novel was inspired by observations made about an underclass of people in Brazil during the documentary and in an interview I did with the Director, José Padilha, for an article I wrote on the film.

If you haven’t seen Bus 174 I’d highly recommend it, and don’t just take it from me: The New York Timessaid the film was “so wrenching and absorbing that you can easily lose sight of the sophistication of its techniques,” and voted it one of the ten best films of the year (in 2002). The review makes reference to Fernando de Meirelles’s film City of God, and it is worth remembering that these films came out at a similar time. Whilst both show the violent underside of life in Rio de Janeiro their perspective is very different, something Padilha was keen to point out when I spoke to him. His point was that there is a difference between the gun-toting drug gang youths of City of God and the homeless street kids thieving for survival in Copacabana, though they are sometimes lumped together.

My novel really only skims the surface of such issues, and the theme of invisibility explored therein has other connotations too. But it will be a great honour to be the warm up act for such a fine and interesting film.

I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be officially loitering in Waterstones, Yeovil, on Saturday February 18th. Having spent my childhood living within a few miles of Yeovil it’s a great honour to be doing this “meet the author” slot in my hometown’s book shop. Whilst I live in Brighton now, my parents still live in the area and I’m down that way often. I hold a huge affection in particular for South Somerset and the Levels, a beautiful part of the world, and indeed the area is one of the principal locations in my next novel, which I’m working on now.

View from Burrow Hill

So, if you’re in West Country on the 18th and fancy coming along and saying hello or having a book signed it’d be great to see you.

I’m delighted to proclaim that Invisibles is now on sale in Castor & Pollux, a great art and design book shop on the Brighton seafront.

I popped in yesterday so there are now signed copies aplenty, and lots of other Myriad books on sale too. There is something particularly pleasing about Invisibles being on sale on the seafront, I suppose because it is such an important Brighton location in the novel. Like the protagonist, Joel, perhaps a reader, armed with their new copy of the novel, could wade into the shallows and gaze across the sea towards Rio de Janeiro:

Joel edged round until he could stare across the sea, southwest at 219 degrees. It was 5,734 miles to Rio de Janeiro. Keeping his eyes on the bearing, he kicked off his flip-flops and walked barefoot across pebbles, hurting the hollows of his feet until they sank into the shallows. If his old man were also in the water, in Brazil – would they not be connected by a transatlantic wave of particles? It would be half-past eight in Rio. Perhaps he still went for a morning swim on Ipanema beach.

If gazing wistfully towards Rio is not your thing, there are other seaside episodes you could recreate within a stone’s throw: staggering onto the beach at the end of a drunken night, getting caught in a downpour on the promenade, burning a selection of your ex’s possessions on a floating pyre.

Of course, the best place of all to read Invisibles is sitting with a caipirinha in a low-slung deckchair on Ipanema beach, but reading it on Brighton beach comes a close second – and thanks to Castor & Pollux maybe a few more people will do just that.

I’m delighted to say I’m reading at The Book Stops Here, a great live lit event in London on December 12th. There are many, many good things about TBSH, not least the fact that it is a FREE “literary party night”, in the heart of London’s Bookland (The Alley Cat, Denmark Street) with an impressive list of past performers. I can’t promise to perform, exactly, or claim to be impressive, but I’ll be reading from Invisibles for those interested. One of the organisers, Emma Young, does a very funny turn as compere too.